Page:Australian views of England.djvu/45

  that at least 60,000 hands are out of work. In London strenuous efforts are being made to relieve the widespread destitution. In Yorkshire and Staffordshire short time and low wages are doing their work, and empty houses and hazard faces tell the doleful story. If severe weather set in, the suffering from poverty will be terrible.

In the event of war, Parliament will probably meet on the 14th of January, and we may expect the debates to be fierce and stormy. The friends of peace will muster with a strong array of talent but the Government will have an overwhelming support in the course they have taken, and money and men will be supplied with a lavish hand. It is to be feared that the progress of hostilities will soon engender a bitter and relentless feeling of antagonism on both sides in the quarrel.

In considering the eventualities of the war, so for as I have been able to learn, little thought has been bestowed upon the Australian colonies. It is very possible, I think, that your danger is not fully foreseen by the English authorities. You may depend upon it, however, that if England and America plunge into a great naval war, American privateering will exceed everything of